Casineria Temporal range: Early Carboniferous,
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The counterslab of the holotype fossil | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Sarcopterygii |
Clade: | Tetrapodomorpha |
Clade: | Eotetrapodiformes |
Clade: | Elpistostegalia |
Clade: | Stegocephali |
Genus: | †Casineria Paton, Smithson & Clack, 1999 |
Type species | |
†Casineria kiddi Paton, Smithson & Clack, 1999
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Casineria is an extinct genus of tetrapodomorph which lived about 340–334 million years ago in the Mississippian epoch of the Carboniferous period. Its generic name, Casineria, is a latinization of Cheese Bay, the site near Edinburgh, Scotland, where the holotype fossil was found.[1] When originally described in 1999, it was identified as a transitional fossil noted for its mix of basal (amphibian-like) and advanced (reptile-like) characteristics, putting it at or very near the origin of the amniotes, the group containing all mammals, birds, modern reptiles, and other descendants of their reptile-like common ancestor. However, the sole known fossil is lacking key elements such as a skull, making exact analysis difficult.[2] As a result, the classification of Casineria has been more controversial in analyses conducted since 1999. Other proposed affinities include a placement among the lepospondyls,[3] seymouriamorphs,[4] "gephyrostegids",[5] or as a synonym of Caerorhachis, another controversial tetrapod which may have been an early temnospondyl.[6]
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